Penalty objectives and problems of their implementation

The theme of this work - the purpose of punishment and the issues of its enforcement. This paper analyzes the problem aspects of formulation of punishment goals in the law and their implementation in the Lithuanian law. The fundamental problem addressed in the work are the goals of punishment, based on the legal regulations which are currently adapted exclusively to a single punishment – deprivation of freedom for a fixed period. Which, by the way, is imposed very often in Lithuania, even though crime is not so high compared with other countries of the European Union. The paper raises the question – why the purposes of punishment referred to in the Criminal Code could not be achieved by all types of punishment, although Article 41 paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code contains a general rule of law, defining the purpose of punishment in the broad sense. Also, the paper analyses the hypothesis – whether the targets of the punishment indicated in the criminal law cannot result in frequent punishment by imprisonment. In order to evaluate the opportunities for applying the punishment goals indicated in the Criminal Code for all types of punishment, the paper addresses the objectives of the prevention and retribution theories, an presents the overview of trends and the case law on the subject. Taking into account the results of the research work, the work is finalised not only by the conclusions but also by recommendations to the legislator on corrections of the objectives of punishment indicated in the penal law so that they could be applied to all types of punishment prescribed by the Criminal Code